Higher Education and the Labour Market in Ireland, 1981-1991

Abstract

Research in a number of OECD countries on the changing shape of higher education and the labour market for graduates has played an important part in the development of policies for education, research, and training. Very little research has been done in Ireland on these topics. In this paper we present a broad statistical picture of trends in higher education in Ireland during the period 1981-91 and the results of the first comprehensive survey of the career patterns of two cohorts of PhDs and professional engineers who graduated during the 1980s. First we consider the balance between the supply of and demand for third-level graduates and the first destinations of recipients of third-level awards. We go on to present the results of our survey, focusing on the current labour market status of PhDs and professional engineers, their patterns of external and return migration, and on income differentials between those who never emigrated, those who have returned to Ireland, and those who have permanently emigrated. We argue that the rapid expansion of higher education over the past decade has not been matched by demand for graduates in the domestic labour market. This raises a number of concerns regarding the returns to the substantial public investment in the sector, the capacity of the domestic economy to provide employment for, and utilise the skills of, highly educated graduates, and the danger of a process of credentials inflation. Ideally we would like to consider changes which have taken place in higher education at both university and non-university level. Unfortunately, comprehensive information is not available on the flow of graduates from non-university institutions and our discussion in the section on the supply of graduates will be confined to the university sector.